The Crack in the Human Heart

The Crack in the Human Heart

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After reading many Japanese novels and movies, I have an insight, into their stories, the degree of beauty and sadism is directly proportional to the degree. The more beautiful, the more sadistic, the more flowers bloom in the sky, the more the story is also the more people scratch their hearts and lungs. Perhaps because they feel that the beauty of the world and the cruelty of life should be put together for contrast to be tasty; perhaps because they want to give the abused people a little compensation so that they can breathe the fragrance of flowers while experiencing the abuse of life.

This is also the case with "The Shape of Sound" produced by Kyoto Animation and directed by Shoko Yamada. There are always flowers in the picture, woody, herbaceous, spring, autumn, large, sporadic, on the roadside, in the wild, in vases, in pots, in the arms of the characters, by the ears, everywhere, no matter what the teenagers are going through, they are blooming aside regardless.

Netizens are looking for every picture, finding out all the flowers, finding out their names, searching out the language they represent: cherry blossoms, dandelions, spring flies, roses, roses, primroses, pansies, azaleas, gypsophila, cyclamen, marigolds, marigolds, chrysanthemums, lilies, cosmos, acacia, edelweiss, sunflowers, vine periwinkle... ...they represent joy, sadness, hope, gratitude, trust, humility, frankness, tender friendship, lifelong love, undetected love, and misunderstandings that want to be solved, among others.

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But don't forget the principle of "the more beautiful, the more abusive", the more flowers and the more beautiful, the more abusive the story. And the abuse of "The Shape of Sound" is not the kind of abuse that travels through the past and the present, the kind of abuse that goes to the sky and the earth, the kind of abuse that separates life from death, but the very real abuse: the pain caused by school bullying.

The main character, Ishida Shuya, was once bullied by his senior classmates when he was in elementary school, and when he became a senior, he started bullying other students again. Nishinomiya Niko, who has a congenital hearing impairment, becomes the target of the bullying. Ishida and his classmates teased her, imitated her speaking accent, and broke her hearing aids. They broke eight hearing aids over five months, eventually causing Nishinomiya to change schools.

People who bully others harbor a strange superstition - that if they become bullies themselves, they will be free from being bullied. Ishida would have been driven by this superstition to become a bully. But the reality is not that simple, the bully will meet stronger people and will continue to be bullied. Because of the bullying, Ishida was isolated by his classmates and became a person who was afraid to look others in the face and fell into a state of chronic depression.

He began to repent, reflect, and even try to atone for his sins. So he began to learn sign language and tried to understand the situation Nishinomiya Niko was in at that time. He helped Tomohiro Nagasu, who was being bullied and thus gained Nagasu's friendship. Nagare's friendship was particularly faithful and warm, pulling Ishida out of his isolation.

Ishida will also meet Nishinomiya Niko again. Nishinomiya was in a state of panic when he met Ishida again, but slowly, an unusual feeling sprang up between Ishida and Nishinomiya. They become entangled again, only in a different way, sometimes warm, sometimes resentful, sometimes unconditionally forgiving, sometimes thinking twice. But their feelings, in this unconventional and extraordinary way, grow deeper and deeper.

Yes, human emotions are incredible. The incredible thing is that many kinds of ways can make people's feelings deeper. Sometimes love can bring depth, and sometimes hate can bring some kind of depth. Sometimes, normal care and attention can bring depth, and sometimes, less conventional love and abuse can bring depth.

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Of course, not everyone can encounter this kind of situation in the story.

It's safe to say that almost everyone has experienced bullying in some way, shape, or form. School bullying, workplace bullying, and bullying at the drinking table ...... exist all the time. School bullying, in particular, is the fire pit of growing up because it happens to teenagers who are not physically or mentally strong enough and lack resistance. The perpetrators, therefore, have no scruples, and the victims have no room to maneuver. School bullying is more intense and pure than bullying elsewhere.

But school bullying may not always have such a legendary ending. The bully may not always be able to reflect and repent, as Ishida did, and gradually begin to repair the cracks in his personality on his initiative. The bully, like Nishinomiya, may not always have the love and kindness to take the initiative to understand and forgive.

What "The Shape of Sound" is about is a special situation. Those who know how to reflect will eventually take a path of self-redemption; those with delicate hearts will eventually fill the cracks of humanity under the hammering of the whole world.

In a world full of flowers, there are cracks everywhere to be mended.

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This story is special.

The most special thing about it is not the fact that it puts a theme like "bullying" amid the beauty and the sea of flowers. What is special about this story is that, like a private novel, it uses Ishida's experiences and psychological activities to construct the whole story. His emotional ups and downs, and his change of heart, are delivered to you so realistically. You almost follow him to experience and feel, to enter a world that is real and unreal.

By entering Ishida's feelings from such a personal perspective, your emotions begin to resonate with him as well. Suddenly, the heart is cold and seems to sink to the bottom; suddenly, there is enough strength to revive and start taking care of others. And the heroine, Nishinomiya Niko, is the object of Ishida's mental activity. Although she also has an independent personality, with joy and sorrow, she is always enveloped by Ishida.

When Ishida falls into a state of isolation, all the faces around him put on X's, all strangers, all unrecognizable, like moving symbols. Ishida only lives in his inner world, isolated from the world. This situation is broken after Nagisa and Ishida become connected. When Yong Bok runs up to Ishida like a loyal puppy seeking friendship, the X on Ishida's face disappears.

Why did you shoot like this? Because, only such a delicate person can reflect and save himself, and the hundred twists and turns in his heart are eventually turned into redemptive actions.

This private perspective, completely out of our habit of watching cartoons, with such a technique to produce an animated film, can be described as bold.

Sound of Form" is based on the manga by Ryoji Oimane, which has 7 volumes and 62 stories and was selected for the "Weekly Shonen Magazine Newcomer Manga Award" in 2008. Because the work is a controversial topic, it was suspended for a while, but later restarted in 2013 after negotiations between all parties. The film was later produced by Kyoto Animation and grossed 283 million yen in its first week, and by January 2017, the cumulative box office in Japan reached 2.3 billion yen, making it a phenomenal comic book movie.

It was finally released in China in September 2017. I thought it would be left out in the cold, but the one I saw was almost full. Surrounded by young people who came in pairs, I was eager to ask what it was in this story that resonated with them. I also knew that the answer I received must be the darkest and most resilient.